A bit late this – but it is STILL January, so I think its fine.
According to Goodreads, I read thirty books last year – that doesn’t seem like a lot – but when I’m ‘writing’ I do struggle to ‘read’ as well. I would never want to be accused of plagiarism so I try to steer clear of anything that might be remotely similar to what I’m currently writing. I am also exceptionally fussy about what I do and don’t read. I will give up on books if they don’t hold my attention, and it’s not very often that I go back to finish off something that I’ve abandoned.
So, what did I read in 2018?
It seems to be a strange mix of historical who-dun-its, historical fiction/fantasy, thrillers and the odd bit of fantasy. In 2017, the standout final book in Robin Hobb’s series about Fitz won the ‘best book of the year’ for me. This year, I’m going to have to nominate Lancelot by Giles Kristian as my standout book of the year.
In my review for Lancelot, I wrote,
“Lancelot is a brilliant book. I really can’t recommend it enough – but at its heart, it is also flawed. The more I think about this, the more I imagine this might have been done on purpose – a mirror image of the character, perhaps.”
I believe it will shortly be released in paperback and is really worth a read if you enjoy Post-Roman, Pre-Anglo-Saxon historical fiction.
My next favourite book of the year was The Last Hours by Minette Walters.
In my review for The Last Hours I wrote,
“The Last Hours is a wonderful book. I can’t recommend it enough. It’s been some time since something has hooked me so entirely and I was thoroughly engrossed by the characters, time period and the portrayal of the Black Death and its devastating consequences. The fact that I now want to research the time period more, is a sure sign that the novel has well and truly drawn me in.”
The sequel was released last year, which is why I read the first book, and if it doesn’t quite match up to the brilliance of The Last Hours, it does the reader a huge favour and concludes the stories for the characters in a thoroughly satisfactory way. Well worth the effort, because both books are quite weighty.
An honourable mention must go to Kin.
I began my review for this one as follows,
“This book intrigued me from the beginning – but perhaps the comments I read such as ‘no one does Vikings like this’ were slightly misleading for this particular book by the author. To begin with, I was quite confused by the direction the story was taking.”
I think the new ‘blurb’ comments are more in keeping with the nature of the story, which at heart, is a mystery. If you fancy something a little different from the usual historical murder mystery, this is well worth a read. As I said in my review ‘an intriguing idea’.
And now to fantasy.
In 2018 I read two of the books from the Self Published Fantasy Blog-Off (Or SPFBO) to give it the correct title. This is a fantastic competition run with the support of Mark Lawrence and a vast number of fantasy blog sites, where they review and nominate books that are indie published, always in the fantasy genre, and every year ‘crown’ a winner. I’ve long followed the competition because I think it’s an excellent idea.
This year I read The Grey Bastards,
“BRING ON THE ORCS . . .
Jackal is proud to be a Grey Bastard, member of a sworn brotherhood of half-orcs. Unloved and unwanted in civilized society, the Bastards eke out a hard life in the desolate no-man’s-land called the Lots, protecting frail and noble human civilization from invading bands of vicious full-blooded orcs.
But as Jackal is soon to learn, his pride may be misplaced. Because a dark secret lies at the heart of the Bastards’ existence – one that reveals a horrifying truth behind humanity’s tenuous peace with the orcs, and exposes a grave danger on the horizon.
On the heels of the ultimate betrayal, Jackal must scramble to stop a devastating invasion – even as he wonders where his true loyalties lie.”
And thoroughly enjoyed it, and also Senlin Ascends.
M J Porter 